SPRINGFIELD -- While most Illinois Republicans have lambasted the income tax increase passed by Democratic legislators and signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, former Republican Gov. James Thompson is taking the long-term view.

CHRIS WETTERICH

SPRINGFIELD -- While most Illinois Republicans have lambasted the income tax increase passed by Democratic legislators and signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, former Republican Gov. James Thompson is taking the long-term view.

“If the press reports of the provisions which will force budget cuts … and they’re carried out in good faith, and most importantly, we get honest and competent government in return for our taxes, then I think most citizens will be happy to see that Illinois will no longer be the deadbeat state,” Thompson said in an interview Wednesday in the Capitol rotunda after Quinn swore in the new members of the Senate.

Thompson, governor from 1977 to 1991, was the longest-tenured governor in state history.

He does not necessarily buy into the assumption by many that the tax hike, which raises individual income taxes from 3 percent to 5 percent and the corporate rate from 4.8 percent to 7 percent, will not be temporary. The tax is scheduled to drop to 3.75 percent in 2015.

Thompson signed a law that temporarily increased the tax from 2.5 percent to 3 percent. That increase took effect on Jan. 1, 1983 and went back to 2.5 percent on June 30, 1984.

“I went through and the people of Illinois went through in 1982-1983 the second-worst recession in American history,” Thompson said. “It (the tax increase) wasn’t renewed, and so it can be done.”

The key to not continuing this year’s tax increase, according to Thompson, will be budget cuts and a better economy.

“Although the budget was smaller, the cuts were just as tough to make,” Thompson said. “I hope that the people of Illinois are rewarded with better economic times so that we can get governments, local and state, into balance.”

In recent days, the governors of Indiana and Wisconsin have seized on Illinois’ income tax increase as an opportunity to urge businesses to flee the state. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told reporters on Wednesday he thought Illinois would raise taxes again later.

“If you’re a company, you make an assessment not just where things are today, but where they’re headed,” Walker said. “The Illinois politicians have made a clear indication that they’re looking to not solve their budget crisis by getting spending under control but by taxing.

“Evidence has shown us in Illinois and other parts of the country that, without making tough decisions in a year or two years, they’re going to have to come back and raise taxes again.”

But Thompson pointed out that Illinois’ income tax is still lower than that in many surrounding states. Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Kentucky all have graduated income taxes in which the rates top out at higher than Illinois’ temporary 5 percent rate.

“We’re lucky,” Thompson said. “Governor Quinn and the legislative leaders started with a fairly low income tax in the state of Illinois. We fought hard all these years to keep it low, so that when the day came and we had to raise taxes, they didn’t have to go so high.

“My hope is that when the legislature says temporary, they mean temporary.”